Stay in Shadow
by DanielleKetaruema and kera
Summary: Marik, the lonely five thousand year old vampire, overhears a young girls prayers for a diffrent life. he feels drawn to her and finaly confronts her. Not affiliated with the song 'stay in shadow'
1. Default Chapter

Danielle/Ketaruema: Waaaaaaaaa! Nobody likes me (you'd figure I'd get used to this by now) Nobody reviewed my stories!  
  
Marik: Boohoo poor vampire...  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: is that supposed to make me feel better?  
  
Marik: No, I'm evil, would I ever try to make you feel better?  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: No, that's why I like you Marik.  
  
Kera: Danielle/Ketaruema you have to do the disclaimer, NOW!  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: I do not own anything! Not Yu-Gi-Oh (if I did I would be very rich) Not the song that shares the same name with my story, Not my soul (I lost that a while ago...) There you happy?  
  
Kera: yes very.  
  
Stay in shadow  
  
As he was bent over the twisted remains of his victim he heard sirens in the distance. He looked up, his violet eyes staring into the distance; they were coming for him. He got up and severed the spine of his victim with a stake to be sure she would not rise to become like him. With one swift movement he leapt atop the nearest building and fled the scene.

"I can't stand this life," a young girl thought while she paced her room with her Papa Roach CD blazing. "Cut my life into pieces, this is my last resort" she sang unaware she was going to get what she desired. Outside her window something moved through the shadows towards her window. "Damn it my boombox died" she cried in anguish and went to go turn on her radio. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something; she went to the window to check it out. But as in all good horror stories nothing was there. "That was close," he thought "I'm getting careless she almost caught me, imagine me getting caught by a mortal!" she went back to her usual activities, blasting music and singing along to it at the top of her lungs three octaves higher than it should be. "Does she have to do that? She has a beautiful soprano voice but does she have to sing that loud? Kekouro Deroga!!!! Turn it down!" her mother screeched. "So that's her name, Kekouro, sounds like the old Hieratic word for blood..." he thought. "Mom I can't hear you, the music is up too loud," Kekouro yelled, "just the way I like it" she added to herself. "Kekouro! Take the dog out!" her father yelled. "All right you ass hole" Kekouro thought as she walked out the door into the bright full moon. She started to sing 'stay in shadow' as she walked to her shrine to the Egyptian gods. "Thank the gods my parents don't go in the woods" Kekouro thought. At that moment he stepped out from the shadows. "Who are you?" a startled Kekouro called. "I am who you've been praying for" he said. "You've been spying on me!? Well I didn't mean it." Kekouro blurted out nervously. "Oh I know exactly what you meant, I can see into your soul and I see all of the pain and despair within your soul, you want this more than you can imagine" He said. "Does that mean you're a-a vampire?" Kekouro asked hopefully. "Yes, I'm your guardian angel of darkness. I am leaving tomorrow night and I want you to come with me so I can change you away from all suspicion, and to give you the life you've always wanted. You have until dusk tomorrow to decide if you're coming and to pack if you are." He said as he turned to leave. "But wait I don't even know your name" Kekouro cried. "It's Marik"

Danielle/Ketaruema: well that was fun, and for once I haven't made an appearance during the story.  
  
Marik: why do I have to be the vampire, is this some kind of foreshadowing for what you plan to do with me?  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: Maybe. All you people out there please review! If you do I'll review yours. I promise to say only nice things. Pleeeeease? PLEASE!!!! 


	2. The decision and escape

Danielle/Ketaruema: Thank you!!! I feel loved, people reviewed my last story.   
  
Marik: wow, this is definitely a change. It's amazing what a few fake reviews will do...  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: you mean that was you yelling at me to stop moping and to torture Bakoura?!  
  
Marik: well umm yeah...  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: alas, even my characters have turned against me, by the way I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.  
  
The decision and escape  
  
All night she paced thinking to herself as the full moon shone outside, strange things happen during full moons. "Damn this is so sudden" Kekouro thought as she was packing her suitcase, "how am I going to get away with this? I mean I want to go with him but how am I going to get all of this stuff out of the house without raising suspicions, and what happens when my parents discover I'm gone? You'd figure this would be easy, but it's not easy to just leave behind a life and never look back"

"What came over me?" Marik said aloud, "I had promised to myself 2000 years ago to never make another, but there's just something about her." He paused to look up at the moon and said "how long has it been since I've just looked at the stars or the moon? I never appreciate the simple things anymore, not with all of the technology to be mastered." All of the sudden a semi came screeching out of nowhere barely missing a building and heading straight for Marik, with one colossal leap Marik jumped out of the way and cursed back at the driver "you fucking ass hole, you could have killed me! (Not really but oh well)" "alas," he thought, "they're getting worse, at first I thought they wanted me dead (a laughable goal) but now I think they're just stupid" he turned to find another one barreling towards him. "Does this ever end?" he thought wearily. "Hey Jackass get off the fucking road!" the driver screeched just barely missing Marik. "Such foul mouths these mortals have, damn it, it's five am already!" Marik thought as he raced the sun on the horizon to get home.

The sun was just upon the horizon when finally she made up her mind. "I don't believe I stayed up the whole night trying to decide whether to stay or go, but it's decided I'm leaving. But I have a bigger problem, I didn't get any sleep!" Kekouro thought sleepily while she crawled into bed and set her alarm.

The moon had just risen and already Marik stood at the shrine waiting for Kekouro. "She's late" Marik thought nervously. His mind was flipping through all of the possible reasons, always stopping on the worst possible ones. "Sorry I'm late," Kekouro stuttered out, "My parents were suspicious" "I figured that much" Marik said dryly "we have to leave now!" Kekouro heard something faint in the distance, almost like sirens. "I know you have to kill people to live, Marik, but how many did you kill tonight to make them come looking for you?" Kekouro asked skeptically. "Well let's see, there was the prostitute, the drunk, the drug dealer, the collage student, the..."Marik's words trailed off as if he was recalling some distant dream. "All right I get the point, do you usually kill this many people?" Kekouro asked. "Umm, No, I only meant to take the collage student, but the wrest of them got on my nerves..."said Marik. "Let's go before my parents start looking for me, wait, you don't have a car, how are we going to get away?" Kekouro asked. "I don't need a car, I have a motorcycle!" Marik said as he pointed around the coroner to a black shape in the darkness. Again they heard sirens in the distance, but louder this time. "Marik, can you help me with these bags?" Kekouro said sheepishly as she struggled with her suitcases. "Wussy mortal, you are pathetic" said Marik smugly. "Hey at least I'm not apathetic!" Kekouro snapped. They both climbed aboard the motorcycle when Kekouro cried, "let's get a friggen move on!" "Hmm, feisty little mortal, I might get to like you..."Marik said thoughtfully. He move closer and in a flash planted a kiss upon Kekouro's cheek. "What was that for?" Kekouro stammered out blushing furiously. "I just wanted to know what you taste like" Marik said innocently, trying to hide his obvious show of affection. "Now hang on this thing can scoot, I've outran police in this." "Wow that's so reassuring" Kekouro stated flatly "hey, I didn't say go yet!" "Well too late, now hang on" cried Marik over the roar of his Harley as they road off into the twilight.

(End of chapter 2)  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: wow, I still haven't appeared! I think that's a record.  
  
Marik: I still say why do I have to be the vampire!  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: Because you make a cute immortal...  
  
Marik: you sure that's the real reason?  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: No, but you do. All you people out there please review! Pleeease! Please?  
  
Marik: there's no talking to her when she's like this...


	3. The changing

CHAPTER 3- THE CHANGE  
  
Kekouro sat upon the hilltop gazing up at the star filled twilight, "have you just looked at this lately?" "Yes, the night I asked you to come with me, I was looking to them for answers, mainly to why I asked you to come with me" Marik said thoughtfully. "Why did you ask me?" Kekouro asked. "Because you wanted this, maybe it was because I've been so alone for the past 2000 years..." Marik trailed off again into his private train of thought leaving a very bewildered Kekouro to ponder the answers he just gave. "Marik, Marik, MARIK!" Kekouro shouted. "Hmm... what?" Marik asked. "Where did you go just now? It was kind of creepy, you just went all quiet and you had a blank look in your eyes." Kekouro said obviously very shaken. "I do that sometimes, I just kind of leave my body and go places, I don't know why but it just calms me," Marik said trying to comfort Kekouro. "Well warn me when you're going to do that! I've been trying to reach you for at least a half an hour!" Kekouro shouted at Marik. "Why did you want me little one?" he asked. "I heard something, I think I think someone is following us!" Kekouro then started looking around nervously. "Don't worry, they'll never get you, not with me here that is. Soon I shall change you and take you away to where they shall never find you." As Marik said this he put an arm around Kekouro's shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "When?" Kekouro asked as she snuggled closer to Marik. "Soon, but first I must get you far from here where they can't find us, because when I change you we must stay in one spot for three nights, and you must learn to feed." Said Marik stroking her hair lovingly. They both sat on that hill for the rest of the night in each others arms just staring up at the stars.

Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰Ë‰(The next night)

After hiking for what seemed like hours through a dense forest, heavily populated by mosquitoes, Marik said the two words Kekouro'd been dying to hear all night "We're here!" "Finally!" Kekouro cried as they stopped in a little clearing deep within the forest. Marik nuzzled close to Kekouro planting kisses from her arm up to her neck then on to her lips, when he hit that point Kekouro kissed back, locking lips and encircling Marik in a passionate embrace. "Dear little Kekouro, this is the night you will always remember throughout your entire immortal life" Marik softly as not to scare Kekouro "Tonight I shall change you, there will be moments of pain, and of great pleasure, but I need to know something Kekouro, do you want this? If you are not willing I cannot change you, only make you a mindless monster which in turn I would have to kill." "I want it with all my heart and soul, I've wanted it ever since I thought that it might come true!" Kekouro practically shouted. "All right" Marik moved closer his breath hot against her neck, and in an instant he struck, her blood filled his mouth, it was ecstasy like he had never known it, beautiful and sweet, but all too soon he felt her heart slow. She was at death's door; if she did not fight death he would loose her, at that thought he was devastated. "Hold on Kekouro, do not give up life yet!" Marik whispered in her ear lovingly. Kekouro however was lost in a world of her innermost desires; she had felt none but a brief pain in her neck then the whole world melted away into an endless world of bliss. At the last possible second Marik forced himself to pull away, he almost couldn't, it tasted so perfect, like liquid sunshine. "No, I shall not give in" he commanded himself mentally. With one swift movement Marik made a gash in his chest and held Kekouro's limp body against his and commanded her to drink. Almost at once he could feel the strength flowing back into her, she latched on to him and began viciously sucking at the wound draining him like he had oh so many other mortals before. When he could bear no more he gently pushed her away. Kekouro struggled to go back to the wound, she wanted more. "My dear little dark seraph, now you are mine" Marik cooed. Kekouro blinked, and to make sure this wasn't just a beautiful dream she pinched herself, and then removed a small blade, with it she cut her arm and held the cut to the gash on Marik's chest letting the blood mingle and then the wounds miraculously closed. A shocked expression spread across Kekouro and Marik's face, "This has never happened before!" Marik cried in astonishment. Kekouro was stunned, "Is this how you see, Marik, all colors and light?" she asked twirling and dancing about the little clearing. "Yes, it is and it gets better too, watch out my little one! You are not yet fully immortal, you can still get hurt" Marik warned. "Don't worry, Marik I won't hurt myself" Kekouro said with a smirk. She continued on with her dance until she reached a crumbling wall of stones, made bolder by her new strength and vitality she jumped on and began to walk along It's unstable edge. All of the sudden the wall gave out from under her and came down with a bang, but she did not, then she realized she was in Marik's arms, he had caught her before she hit the ground. "I told you to be careful little one" was Marik's reply to her fall. "Ugh, Marik I feel sick!" Kekouro cried "This is happening faster than I thought..." and again Marik trailed off. "Marik! What's happening faster than you thought?" Kekouro shouted as another wave of pain washed over her. "Your death, it usually takes a newly made vampire two to three days to die, but with you it's happening almost instantly" Marik looked concerned, he thought mentally about something he heard long ago, the stronger the newly made vampire is the sooner they experience physical death...  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: Mwahahahahahahahaha! A cliff-hanger!!  
  
Random people: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: well if I get 25 reviews I'll never do that again. So REVIEW!  
  
Marik: Dear lord Ra, not again!  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: ––, I have a question for you, (all people reading this) Do you want me to describe her dying in detail? (What it feels like ect.)  
  
Marik: wow, that's the first even somewhat intelligent thing you've said after asking for reviews ever!  
  
Audience: (gasp)  
  
Danielle/Ketaruema: why you little! (Grabs Marik and starts choking him Simpsons style) Bye!


	4. Past revalations

Danielle: Sorry it's taken so long to update. First fanfiction was down for a while, then I got banned for a while, then I had a writers block and school started then I had huge projects to do and I started a new account, then my computer had numerous technical difficulties. So it just kind of added up... Ok now to the chapter you're all so anxious to read.

Ps. Thank you to all of my loyal reviewers, I really appreciate it.

Stay in shadow ch 4: the world as we know it.

Bits and pieces of past memories flashed through Marik's head, in the silence over a gently moaning Kekouro he thought.

"Ugghh, Marik, when will this pain end?" Kekouro asked with huge questioning eyes.

"My dear, it will last only a short while…"said Marik coming out of deep contemplation. "Why does the strength of our fledglings vary?" He asked himself, "why do some turn out to be more powerful than gods, while others turn out to be no more than wraiths?"

"Marik what are you mumbling to yourself now?"

"Nothing dear Kekouro, shhh, just rest now, it'll all be over soon" Marik said comfortingly.

"How long is soon for you? A few centuries?" Kekouro asked sarcastically.

"Ahhh, what a pair we'll make through the centuries, why I bet when your change is done you'll be even more powerful than my creator, high priestess Hatarett." Marik stated reverently.

"Who's Hatarett?"

"Some one."

"Tell me pleease?" Kekouro begged.

"Oh all right, but if I tell you about her I'll have to tell you my past. I've never told anyone about my past…"Marik shrunk back onto a rock pulling his knees up to his chin and gave Kekouro a look of sadness the likes of which she'd never seen before. Silently an opalescent tear slid down Marik's face and landed with a plop on a rock.

"Marik, if it upsets you this much you don't have to tell me…"Kekouro said while staring into Marik's lavender eyes, now clouded by tears. She shuddered as another wave of pain swept over her. _This will all end soon. _She told herself gritting her teeth and willing herself not to cry out. The pain was immense; all of your human bodily fluids shoved violently out any open orifice is not a nice feeling.

"I have no choice I will tell you."

"No, you don't have to Marik, I see how much pain this brings, don't put yourself through it just for me." Kekouro pleaded.

"I have to, if I don't you'll never be able to trust me." Marik murmured through his anguish.

"If you need to tell me that badly…"Kekouro settled onto a nearby rock and sat cross-legged, intent upon the story to come. "Go on Marik, tell me your story." Kekouro implored.

"All right my sweet seraph, it all began two thousand years ago, the height of the Egyptian empire…"

The sun shone high overhead; I hurried to get out of it, not knowing that that careless act would change my destiny forever. I backed into a member of the cult of Set; most people in those times avoided any contact with them, But I the careless one had ran right into him. I turned around to apologize but he was gone. Most people would have thought that to be a bad omen, but I took no heed. After my excursion in the marketplace I headed home, by this time it was getting dark. I was turning the corner right before my house and the man I had run into in the marketplace and at least five more men, they attacked me and took me hostage. I tried to fight them but I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up I was tied to an altar in an old temple, there were two people on either side of me; one dressed as Set and the other as Anubis, my patron god. I stared at each of them for a short while and then fell back down into the black nothingness. When I came to again I was in a stone room below the sands; it was damp and cool. A plate of bread and a cup of wine was laid out in front of me, I tried to reach it because I was so very thirsty, but my arm wouldn't move, in fact I could barely open my eyes. I heard a muffled laughter in the background, then the grinding shift of one of the walls moving. In stepped two men, the same two I had seen the night before dressed as Anubis and Set. They spoke to each other in hushed whispers but I caught small fragments of their conversation.

"Should we help him?" one muttered to the other.

"Hatarett said she wanted this one kept alive" I strained to hear more but again my strength failed me, I fell back onto the stone floor with a thud. One of the men looked over at me and laughed the other one said something then walked away. I made one final attempt to reach the bottle of wine and then fell back down into exhausted sleep. I awoke the next day, my strength had returned in a small amount, I could crawl, as soon as I discovered that I made my way to the wine and bread and consumed it greedily. Contented I sank back down and went back to sleep.

I was awoken with a start, there was a strange creature staring at me! It had luminescent golden eyes that glowed like the sun's dying glow, and hair that shone like silver. I managed to breath out a sparse warning, but the creature just backed up, crossed its unearthly legs and stared at me all the more intently. Finally I could stand no more

"Be gone you pale beast of the underworld!" I shouted hoping that it would make the horror go away, but the creature just let out an inhuman laugh, like shattering glass, a voice inside my head cautioned me not to look into its eyes and suddenly it spoke.

"Such a beauty you are, skin the color of honey, eyes like the dawning skies, and hair the color and sheen of an ibis's wings. My dear you are perfect, you are everything I sent my servants to find."

"Why do you want me?" _Ransom probably, why else keep me alive? _I thought.

"No, little one, I have far more important things to do with you than ransom you, you are to be my heir."

"What are you?" I shouted at it.

"Oh but you haven't figured it out yet? Well then I guess I must tell you, I am exactly like you yet exactly not, I am alive but then again I'm not"

"What are you, a sphinx? Enough riddles! Tell me who and what you are!"

"My, a bit impatient now aren't we. To put it shortly, I'm Hatarett the High Priestess of Set's temple; I'm also a vampire. Their, does that settle your incessant questions?"

"What in hell's very name is a vampire?" I was gaining confidence so I tired my luck "I always knew people in Set's temple were loony, but you High Priestess, beat them all."

"You little brat! You dare insult me!" With that Hatarett abruptly slapped me across the face and sent me spinning into the wall. "Now look what you made me do, are you hurt?" she asked with concern in her eyes.

" Nothing that time won't fix" I was lying of course, _I think Khufu's pyramid just fell upon my head._

"Really, now why not Khafre's?" Hatarett questioned playfully.

"What! How do you know what I'm thinking!" My jaw dropped in shock.

"That's easy, I could know everything about you if I wanted to, I'm a telepath. Please, don't look so shocked, and close your mouth you look like a beached fish"

" You still haven't answered my other question, what is a vampire?"

" Oh yes, a vampire is a person given incredible strength, immortality, and other gifts by their patron gods. Each god grants different powers so there are numerous kinds of vampires. They are immortal but at a price they must now drink the blood of man to survive and can never set foot in sunlight again."

"Well that would explain the anti-tan"

"You think that's funny? I have lived a thousand years already, I have many more to go, all of them I've lived alone."

" So I suppose you want me to be your companion."

"Yes, you are a superb specimen and perfect to preserve for eternity."

"Woah, eternity? I'm not even 17 yet! I only just became a tombkeeper, you have no idea how long eternity sound to a sixteen-year-old."

"quite true, I was once your age, but this world was quite different, there was no unified Egypt, there wasn't even a pharaoh."

"and what if I don't want to live forever with you?" I was really pushing my luck there, from what I felt when she slapped me the first time, she could kill me in an instant.

"Now why would you say that little one?" She called me the same names I call you Kekouro my dear. "To live forever without worrying about aging or disease, that truly is a gift from the gods."

"But what about everyone around us, don't the notice something's wrong?"

"They do, but I'm treated like a god, the bow before me as I take their lives." Hatarett arched her back and stretched like a spoiled cat. "The sun I rising now my little one, I must sleep now, but I will see you again tonight." Stifling a yawn she turned and walked out of my cell.

I sat for a moment in silence contemplating what she had said, a plan for escape began to form in my mind but sleep came to claim me all too quickly. As I slept, for the first time in many nights or days for that matter, I dreamt. The most vivid and horrifying scenes still run in my head today. I saw my self old, shriveled, and toothless dying in my bed of disease and starvation. All around me my family was dying of starvation. The very pyramids themselves were crumbling. I saw my step-brother, Odian, going to war and dying upon the spear of an enemy, his dying words were 'Ra forgive me, I have failed my brother and my land' Egypt overrun with foreigners, the Pharaoh slain upon his throne.

I awoke in a cold sweat, shaking; I sat up and looked around. Now I don't claim to be an oracle, but I know a prophetic dream when I have one. Finally it hit me, me, my family; the very land of Egypt was in danger. In my panic the guards heard me and ran in, and again any plans of escape were thwarted. One hit me over the head and my conciseness faded into oblivion.

When I awoke, as far as I could tell, it was night because Hateret was back.

"Feeling better?"

"Why ask, just read my aching mind." I snapped still a little groggy. I put my hand down to steady myself; it landed in a warm sticky puddle. I looked down, it was blood. I remembered being hit over the head, my hand immediately went to my scalp, and there was a tremendous bloody gash. And you wonder why I didn't feel good.

"Now, now, we'll have to fix that before I continue, I don't want you collapsing from blood loss on me now." She smirked as if enjoying a private joke.

"Don't you dare touch me!" I scooted back further. She came closer, I tried to back off, but my hand slipped in the puddle of my blood and I fell forward into her arms. Her naked arms gleamed in the semidarkness; they shone like marble yet they were supple and pliable.

"Dear lord Ra, how old is she?" I murmured to myself. A subtle fascination had come over me. She was beautiful, porcelain skin, shining silver hair, golden eyes as deep and swirling as Ra's orb. I pulled my eyes away, only to have them drawn right back. I was under her spell. She laughed; it sounded like bells chiming. Hatarett leaned forward and dragged her fingers through my blood. As she licked it off, I saw her shiver.

"You are special, that's the most potent blood I've had in centuries." She smiled, with that; she pounced, shoving me back against the stone walls. "I am going to enjoy this, I hope you do too." She kissed me roughly once on the lips, then moved to my neck. I felt her teeth on my skin for an instant, then a sharp pain that faded into sweet floating nothingness. In the distance between time and feeling I heard her say 'drink' and a warm sweet liquid was forced past my lips, I swallowed. The taste was electric, running through my body like a charge, I wanted more, and more I had, swallow after swallow. Until she threw me aside. The world slowly came back into focus; Hatarett was slumped over in a corner nursing her wrist, that in my haste to drink I had so cruelly torn open.

"My dear, you shall now live forever, unchanging and youthful." Hatarett cringed, her gaping wound closing. I saw her in a new light so to speak. She was still beautiful to me, but so was everything else, I could see the specks of glass I the sandstone walls the room seemed to swim with color. Scent after scent assaulted my senses.

"What have you done to me?" A sharp pain had began to assail my body, it came and went like waves on a beach. It was almost unbearable; it felt as if I was being pulled apart. Then the spasms began, wave after wave, they came, pain like liquid fire. Then suddenly they stopped. The silence was unnerving, I stood up slowly, the room swirled and the ground rushed up to meet me.

"Careful my dearest, you are as a newborn child now, learn to walk carefully with your newfound powers, or greed will over power you, for we are not perfect, we are still prey to the emotions of humans." Ah, more riddles from Hatarett. How I despised riddles, too hard to figure out, took too much time also.

"Hatarett, you mentioned something about patron gods before, what did you mean?" I hated riddles, I had thought that to be yet another, but the words stirred something inside.

"I meant exactly what I had said, in this immortal form we gain powers beyond mortal comprehension as we grow older. You, for example would gain different powers than me because you worship Anubis and I Set." More confusion on my part. She was talking nonsense again, maybe thousands of years alone had finally gotten to her, but I would never know. "My dear, you will find out for yourself as the years come…" She yawned, I yawned, it must have been contagious. I felt the lethargy of sleep steal over me, I could barely keep my eyes open. Hatarett, to my surprise stood up and walked to the door, not looking sleepy at all. Her last words to me were "Sleep in peace and live to see another night." She walked back and kissed me again, then swiftly stalked out the door. I would have followed her, but my limbs were like stone, they wouldn't move. The deathlike sleep of dawn claimed me briskly.


	5. the hunter and the hunted

Chapter 5: The hunter

A black cloaked stranger stopped, sniffed the air warily then moved on. He made a muffled clicking noise as he moved, like metal bumping metal. "Marik you bastard, I've hunted you for twenty long years! You will fall at the end of my sword, you, the oldest of your cursed kind! To the gods I swear this, I will not rest until you're ash!" The hunter shouted into the darkness.

I awoke the next night, not knowing what to expect. I wanted to wake up and have Hatarett's face looming over mine, but I had no such luck. I sat and waited for what seemed to be an eternity, three nights, I think. By the fourth night, my thirst had overtaken all reason. I bashed against the walls of my prison, in a state of near madness, until I found the door stone, perfectly sanded and shaped to hide amongst the others, but it had one flaw; it was hollow. I pushed with all my strength and it gave way opening into a long corridor, I stepped out hesitantly, again not certain what to expect.

I took a few steps, nothing happened, good, I thought. I then caught a scent so alluring as to overtake what was left of my self-control, fresh blood. I followed the scent; it led me down the corridor to a doorway leading outside. I stepped into the sand for the first time with my vampiric senses. All of Egypt was alive in the dead of night, cattle stirred, men moaned in bed, I could hear the great Nile flowing like blood through my countries veins. I was almost overwhelmed, but the scent of fresh blood brought me back to my senses. I looked to my left and discovered its source, my creator; Hatarett, lay face down in a pool of her own blood while a man cloaked in black stood over her. Before I could stop him, he pulled a sickle from his cloak and cut Hatarett's head off, her body turned to dust. He turned to me, I saw hate in his eyes. "Foul demon, you are not welcome in Egypt." He spat, then lunged at me. I cursed as he sliced my arm open spilling more vampiric blood onto the sand.

"Damnit! What did you do that for! Bastard!" I dashed at him, as I ran my nails grew into bird-like claws. I slashed at him catching him across the chest.

"Demon! I call the power of Ra to smite you!" He was dying, he knew it. He pulled a long golden rod out of his cloak, the udjat eye on the head of it glowed, he searched the sky hopefully, but nothing happened.

I laughed, a horrible soulless laugh, because I knew whatever he tried wouldn't work. I reached over and grabbed him, pulling him close to me. I didn't even know what I meant to do, but my body did, my fangs grew longer and I sank them into his neck. He fought, but my preternatural strength kept him in my grip. I was lost in the stream of memories and thoughts flowing out of him into me with his blood. Then it hit me, his death, like a fist to the gut. I sat there for a moment waiting for my head to clear; my mind in that time put together what I had just learned about the stranger that attacked Hatarett and me. I had a hunch, so I moved over to his lifeless body and pulled back the hood of his cloak. A face I had seen countless times before stared blankly up at me and pointy tri-colored hair shone in the pale moonlight._ Oh fuck Ra, I just killed pharaoh Yami! I'm so dead _I thought. I just realized, I was alone utterly and completely, there was no one I could turn to now, even if I wasn't a monster. The object he tried to use against me was lying abandoned in the sand, I took a closer look at it and realized it was the millennium rod, the item my family was assigned to protect. Well I couldn't just leave that lying around, now could I. so I picked it up and fled Egypt. The horror of the ordeal finally dawned upon me on the second night of my escape, my mentor was dead, I had killed the pharaoh, and I was probably wanted for his death all over upper and Lower Egypt. That night I hunted a small village just outside of my hometown. The people there were sparse in number so one missing would draw attention, but I didn't care, I wanted to die, I had nothing to live for. I had started to cry, right in the middle of the village when someone approached me. I couldn't see who it was through my misery, but she spoke and I immediately recognized her as my sister Ishizu. She wrapped me in her arms and told me not to cry for it would be all right, whatever it was. Suddenly I had an overwhelming urge to tell her what I had become, or better yet, make her like me! But the tragedy from the night before banished that thought, and I solemnly vowed never to make another like me, so they wouldn't have to suffer as I did.

That night will haunt me through out all eternity, it already has for most of my undead life.

"Marik… I don't know what to say,"

"Just say you forgive me for that horrible mistake and bringing you into it with me." Marik sighed, and shifted his head to the left, staring blankly at the looming darkness just beyond the trees.

"Why are you looking to me for forgiveness? Only you can forgive what you did that night." There was a brief shuffling noise, and the screech of an owl then the night was silent again.

"I'll never be free of that first trauma…" Marik walked over to Kekouro and sat down next to her. "Please don't pull away," He said wrapping his arms around her "I just want to feel your skin against mine, it's been so long…"

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Danielle: I am soooooo sorry this took so long. I will have another chapter up soon, if my computer will stop being an arse. Thank you for all of your paitence with me and my crappy computer.


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